OOIDA Foundation's Siebert to speak on 'hot fuel' panel

| Friday, January 05, 2007

At its national meeting in San Antonio next month, Natso -
the trade group that represents truck stops and travel plazas - will host a
panel discussion on 'hot fuel.'

One of the panel members will be John Siebert, a project leader for the OOIDA Foundation, the
research arm of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. OOIDA is a
national organization representing professional truck drivers. It is
headquartered in Grain Valley, MO.

Siebert, with the help of OOIDA's member truck drivers and owner-operators,
researched fuel temperatures and whether fuel pumps in some warmer states
compensated for the fuel's expansion when it was being sold at higher than 60
degrees. His research was a catalyst for several investigative articles in TheKansas
City Star, written by reporter Steve Everly.

The discussion will also include panelists from the oil
industry, which by all accounts would like to see the issue evaporate.

But Siebert told "Land Line Now" on XM Satellite Radio that's
not about to happen.

"I don't think that it's going to go away and be quiet any
more," Siebert said. "It's something that the big oil companies have handled
and attempted to keep quiet for a long, long time. I don't think there's any
way . that this is going to flare up and then just die down and go away."

Siebert said Democrats, who officially became the majority
party in Congress Thursday, have promised to be supportive of consumer issues,
such as hot fuel.